Amazingly consistent? In his first 8 seasons Nash never even averaged 9 assists once. Through those 8 seasons he was at 3, 339 assists. At the rate he was going back then he would be hovering around 7,000 assists today, as he averaged 6 assists per game in his first 8 season, or 7 assists if we only factor his years as a starter; since returning to PHX in 04 he's averaged 10.9 assists per. That's a striking gap between two 8 season stretches, and points once again to something highly questionable about Nash's career arc, particularly as the gap goes the wrong way (better at 30+ than he was in his twenties, and not by a small amount). Now, for the answer...

The D'antoni/post-handcheck era from 04/05 on dramatically changed Nash, both as far as media status and stat production. Everyone knows that stat inflation is rampant both from SSOL and the league-wide rule changes to favor perimeter players on offense. Nash is one of the poster boys for both.